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Notes on Willy Wonka, Dark Water, The Snow Walker 8/9/2005 12:27:24 AM
Quick notes on the structure of three current films.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Water, and The Snow Walker
Willy Wonka
posted 8/8/2005
Great visuals and a story that fails to develop fully. There are several issues at play in the story about good overcoming bad, about family, and about mechanization in the modern world. But the story never develops a consistent story question in the way that Edward Sissorhands built to a powerful, fulfilling ending around its main character. The plot questions are more immediate, who will find the golden tickets, who will be the survivor of the tour.
Much inventive charm and wit.
Dark Water
posted 7/27/2005
The trailers of this film suggested a supernatural thriller. The movie is a psychological thriller. So I kept waiting for the fulfillment of a promise that never came, while watching the fulfillment of a promise I hadn't expected.
Well done, well acted, well shot. In the end there's not much payoff for all the set up.
The Snow Walker
posted 7/3/2005
This story is set in 1953, when a cocky bush pilot accepts a payoff to fly a sick Inuit girl to a hospital. The plane crashes, and the pilot, played by Barry Pepper, tries to walk out while leaving the sick girl (played by Annabella Piugattuk) at the plane. When he's overwhelmed by unbearable, thick clouds of mosquitos that go as far as he can see, he loses consciousness. When he comes to, the girl has tracked him down and nurses him back to life, even though she only speaks a few words of English.
This is a simple story, with a plain plot question: who will survive? That one person survives is suggested in an opening scene of a figure walking in the snow. The story is about the pilot learning something about his humanity, and coming to appreciate the girl's way of life.
